Multinational Business Finance, 14e (Eiteman)
Chapter 12 Operating Exposure
12.1 A Multinationalʹs Operating Exposure
1) Another name for operating exposure is ________ exposure.
A) economic
B) competitive
C) strategic
D) all of the above
2) What type of international risk exposure measures the change in present value of a firm
resulting from changes in future operating cash flows caused by any unexpected change in
exchange rates?
A) transaction exposure
B) accounting exposure
C) operating exposure
D) translation exposure
3) ________ cash flows arise from intracompany and intercompany receivables and payments,
while ________ cash flows are payments for the use of loans and equity.
A) Financing; operating
B) Operating; financing
C) Operating; accounting
D) Accounting; financing
4) Which of the following is NOT an example of a financial cash flow?
A) parent invested equity capital
B) interest on intrafirm lending
C) payment for goods and services
D) intrafirm principal payments
5) Which of the following is NOT an example of an operating cash flow?
A) management fees and distributed overhead
B) royalties and license fees
C) rent and lease payments
D) dividend paid to parent company
6) ________ exposure is far more important for the long-run health of a business than changes
caused by ________ or ________ exposure.
A) Operating; translation; transaction
B) Transaction; operating; translation
C) Accounting; translation; transaction
D) Translation; operating; transaction
7) Simpson Sign Company based in Frostbite Falls, Minnesota has a 6-month C$100,000
contract to complete sign work in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The current spot rate is
$1.02/C$ and the forward rate is $1.01/C$. Under conditions of equilibrium, management would
use ________ today when preparing operating budgets.
A) $102,000
B) $101,000
C) $100,000
D) none of the above
8) When considering the phases of adjustment and response to operating exposure in the LONG
RUN, price changes tend to be ________ and volume changes tend to be ________.
A) fixed/contracted; contracted.
B) fixed/contracted; completely flexible.
C) completely flexible; completely flexible.
D) completely flexible; contracted.
9) The goal of operating exposure analysis is to identify strategic operating techniques the firm
might adopt to enhance value in the face of unanticipated exchange rate changes.
10) Operating cash flows may occur in different currencies and at different times, but financing
cash flows may occur only in a single currency.
11) Expected changes in foreign exchange rates should already be factored into anticipated
operating results by management and investors.
12) Even though contracts are often fixed in the short run, as time passes, prices and costs can be
changed to reflect the new competitive realities caused by a change in exchange rates.
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13) The higher the price elasticity of demand, the higher the degree of pass-through.
14) An unexpected change in exchange rates impacts a firm’s expected cash flows at three levels,
depending on the time horizon used (Short Run, Medium Run, and Long Run). Describe the
three operating exposure’s phases of adjustment assuming that parity conditions do not hold
among foreign exchange rates, national inflation rates, and national interest rates
(disequilibrium).
Answer: The first level impact is on expected cash flows in the one-year operating budget. The
gain or loss depends on the currency of denomination of expected cash flows. These are both
12.2 Measuring Operating Exposure: Ganado Germany
1) Recently the British Pound suffered an unexpected depreciation in value. Which of the
following actions being considered by Coventry Furniture of London, a purely domestic
furniture manufacturer and retailer, would be considered a highly unlikely response to the
depreciation of the pound?
A) Coventry might choose to maintain its domestic sales prices constant in pound terms.
B) Coventry might try to raise domestic prices because competing imports are now priced higher
in England.
C) Coventry might try to lower domestic prices because competing imports are now priced
higher in England.
D) none of the above
2) Recently the Canadian dollar realized an unexpected appreciation in value. Which of the
following actions being considered by Tall Timber Exports, a Canadian logging firm specializing
in exporting raw forest products, would be considered a highly unlikely response to the
appreciation of the Canadian dollar?
A) Tall Timber Exports might lower export prices in an effort to maintain market share.
B) Tall Timber Exports might raise export prices only slightly in an effort to increase market
share.
C) Tall Timber Exports might leave export prices as they are and wait to determine what actions
to take if any in the future.
D) all of the above
3) For a firm that competes internationally to sell its products, a depreciation of its domestic
currency relative to markets where the firm exports goods, should eventually result in ________
sales at home and ________ sales abroad, other things equal.
A) fewer; greater
B) fewer; fewer
C) greater; greater
D) greater; fewer
4) Brimmo Motorcycles Inc., a U.S.-based firm, manufactures and sells electric motorcycles both
domestically and internationally. A sudden and unexpected appreciation of the U.S. dollar should
allow sales to ________ at home and ________ abroad. (Assume other factors remain
unchanged.)
A) increase; increase
B) decrease; decrease
C) increase; decrease
D) decrease; increase
5) The strategy management undertakes in response to unexpected changes in exchange rates
depends to a large measure on their opinion about the price elasticity of demand.
6) Unexpected changes in exchange rates is never good news for a firm’s operating income.
1) Which of the following is NOT an example of diversifying operations?
A) diversifying sales
B) diversifying location of operations
C) raising funds in more than one country
D) sourcing raw materials in more than one country
2) Which of the following is NOT an example of diversification in financing?
A) raising funds in more than one market
B) raising funds in more than one country
C) diversifying sales
D) All of the above qualify.
3) When disequilibria in international markets occur, management can take advantage by:
A) doing nothing if they are already diversified and able to realize beneficial portfolio effects.
B) recognizing disequilibria faster than purely domestic competitors.
C) shifting operational of financing activities to take advantage of the disequilibria.
D) all of the above
4) Purely domestic firms will be at a disadvantage to MNEs in the event of market disequilibria
because:
A) domestic firms lack comparative data from its own sources.
B) international firms are already so large.
C) all of the domestic firm’s raw materials are imported.
D) None of the above; domestic firms are not at a disadvantage.
5) Which of the following is probably NOT an advantage of foreign exchange risk management?
A) the reduction of the variability of cash flows due to domestic business cycles
B) increased availability of capital
C) reduced cost of capital
D) All of the above are potential advantages of foreign exchange risk management.
6) Which of the following is NOT an example of a form of political risk that might be avoided or
reduced by foreign exchange risk management?
A) expropriation of assets
B) destruction of raw materials through natural disaster
C) war
D) unfavorable legal changes
7) Moral hazard may occur when a firm or individual takes on more risk when it knows that
someone else will “pick up the tab.”
8) Management must be able to predict disequilibria in international markets to take advantage of
diversification strategies.
9) If a firm diversifies its financing sources, it will be pre-positioned to take advantage of
temporary deviations from the International Fisher Effect.
10) Diversifying the financing base means diversifying sales, location of production facilities,
and raw material sources.
11) The variability of a firm’s operating cash flows is probably reduced by international
diversification of its production, sourcing, and sales because exchange rate changes under
disequilibrium conditions are likely to increase the firm’s competitiveness in some markets while
reducing it in others.
12) Diversification is possibly the best technique for reducing the problems associated with
international transactions. Provide one example each of international financial diversification and
international operational diversification and explain how the action reduces risk.
1) Which of the following is NOT identified by your authors as a proactive management
technique to reduce exposure to foreign exchange risk?
A) matching currency cash flows
B) cross-currency swaps
C) remaining a purely domestic firm
D) parallel loans